Key editorial writer Li Ping arrested

Staff reporters

Apple Daily's key editorial writer, Yeung Ching-kee - who goes by the pen name "Li Ping" - has been arrested on suspicion of breaching the national security law.

Yeung, 55, is accused of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national safety, following the arrests of five Apple Daily senior executives over the same offense last Thursday.

Yeung was detained overnight at Tseung Kwan O police station for investigation after being picked up in the morning.

Police said the operation is ongoing and more people could be arrested.

Next Digital chief executive Cheung Kim-hung and Apple Daily editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong have been charged and remanded in custody.

The others arrested - Chan Pui-man, Royston Chow Tat-kuen and Cheung Chi-wai - were released on bail last Friday.

The city's tabloid-style paper has been accused of endangering national security by publishing over 30 articles calling for foreign sanctions on Hong Kong and China since 2019.

Yeung was the first nonmanagement staff to be arrested at Apple Daily, which will shut down today.

According to Li Ping's Facebook page, his last editorial, published on Tuesday, was on academic freedoms in the mainland with the headline "Don't wet your pants before sunrise."

He said at all times and in all countries, there are people who "wet their pants before sunrise" while some "stick to their conscience" when academics and celebrities confront power.

He said the "dark times would be over one day" and academics, journalists, politicians and wealthy businessmen should be able to "pass through the grill by wisdom and conscience."

In an editorial published last Friday, he wrote that Hong Kong authorities are drawing "layers of red lines" around journalism and the future of press freedom in the city is "precarious."

It is understood Yeung came from Fujian and graduated as a top student from the journalism department at the Fudan University in Shanghai. He worked for Fujian Daily after graduation.

He moved to Hong Kong in the 1990s and worked for Chinese Television Network and Hong Kong United Daily News.

Yeung also headed Apple Daily's China news section. He used the pen name "Li Ping" to write commentaries for the China section.

Yeung later became one of the top columnists and the lead writer of editorials for the newspaper because of his sharp criticism of the central and Hong Kong authorities.

Records show he had written about 800 commentaries in the past five years.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it strongly condemned the arrests of six Apple Daily staff and requested police to give details of the case as soon as possible.

It also reminded the force and the government that arresting journalists "arbitrarily" would cause public questioning on whether written texts could lead to imprisonment and eventually ruin freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

staff.reporter@singtaonewscorp.com